{"id":169276,"date":"2021-02-24T17:26:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T22:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=169276"},"modified":"2021-02-24T17:43:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T22:43:47","slug":"woke-comedy-manager-leaves-entertainment-industry-to-start-unsafe-space-podcast-after-seeing-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/woke-comedy-manager-leaves-entertainment-industry-to-start-unsafe-space-podcast-after-seeing-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Woke Comedy Manager Leaves Entertainment Industry To Start \u2018Unsafe Space\u2019 Podcast After \u2018Seeing The Light\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwoke-comedy-manager-leaves-entertainment-industry-to-start-unsafe-space-podcast-after-seeing-the-light%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=169276&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-282085.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Keri Smith isn\u2019t proud of her role in bringing social justice comedy to the masses.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith helped secured a slot on FX for 2012\u2019s \u201cTotally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,\u201d a late-night show that slammed \u201cThe Simpsons\u2019\u201d Apu as racist and wondered if comedians could ever tell jokes about rape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPart of the reason I enjoyed working with comedians was because I liked the idea of pushing my belief system through humor,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cTotally Biased,\u201d like Smith at the time, was woke years before the term engulfed the culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It took time, but she eventually saw social justice for what she says it truly is, a religious dogma that treats people differently based on their skin color.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith now excoriates social justice tropes on \u201cUnsafe Space,\u201d her long-running podcast with co-host Carter Laren. Together, the duo examines the latest Cancel Culture headlines and the forces shoving it into our cultural institutions. The podcast boasts 35,000 subscribers, allowing Smith to fight back against the rising tide of woke culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith never set out to be part of the comedy ecosystem. She studied biological anthropology and anatomy at Duke University but took a few years off to save money for graduate school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She saw a job posting to join Margaret Cho\u2019s management team on a \u201cfeminist message board\u201d and applied on a whim. The gig became her introduction into the world of professional comedy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She learned the necessary management skills on the fly. She massaged business relationships, learned novel ways for comics to earn money and plotted comedy albums and tours for clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>All the while she marinated in the growing social justice movement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBy the time I was able to start my own company, I could choose which comedians to work with, ones who shared my ideology,\u201d she says, including clients like stand-up Kristina Wong, with whom she remains friends despite their differences. \u201cSometime after that it became culturally dominant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Comedians began introducing woke elements into their act, even those who seemed an unlikely fit for that material.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cJim Jefferies is suddenly doing woke material and almost preaching to people from a moral superiority position,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI prefer the true believers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith\u2019s own belief system started to change while she was hammering out opportunities for her woke clientele. That proved \u201cproblematic\u201d in the truest sense of the word.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI had built my career within this niche. I was known as the feminist manager,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen my beliefs started changing I was afraid to say anything. For six months I kept my thoughts to myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She couldn\u2019t stay silent forever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI became more afraid of the consequences of not speaking,\u201d she says. \u201cBy speaking I knew I\u2019d lose a lot of those connections and friends, and I did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She credits Jordan Peterson for helping her see the folly of social justice thinking. A friend sent her a video clip of the Canadian professor, figuring she would deem it \u201ctransphobic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Instead, she agreed with Peterson\u2019s point of view.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI came away thinking, \u2018this guy\u2019s not a transphobe. He\u2019s making a really good argument about compelled speech,\u201d she says. Peterson\u2019s Biblically-tinged lectures also impacted her, including his<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.idwnews.org\/people\/jordan-peterson\/02-tragedy-vs-evil\/\"><span>\u201cTragedy vs. Evil\u201d speech.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt helped get me out of that resentful place in my life,\u201d she says, coaxing her to address her problems rather than marinating in them. Social justice, she realized, is built around resentment, entitlement and \u201cblaming other people about their status in life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s poisonous to those who hold these beliefs for a long period of time. It severs their opportunities and makes them their own worst enemy,\u201d she says. \u201cIt encourages you to view any mental health problems you have as your identity \u2026 the more of these oppressed identities you can check off, the more of a voice you get to have in this belief system.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Any type of self-improvement can be seen as traitorous, she notes, like the blowback plus-sized singer Lizzo received after posting on social media about her desire to live a healthier lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cShe was<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/entertainment\/celebrity-life\/lizzo-upsets-fans-with-controversial-video-promoting-shake-diets\/news-story\/3ba12ed68e6ccc793fb985f80bcf4a3c\"><span>trashed for days by her own fans<\/span><\/a> <span>who believed she was fat shaming and being part of the oppressive diet culture,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith understands what happens when a true social justice acolyte shares an independent point of view. It doesn\u2019t end well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cNobody has friends in social justice. They just have allies,\u201d she notes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Just ask J.K. Rowling, the progressive author<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/threats-to-cancel-j-k-rowling-grow-amid-transgender-controversy\"><span>who contradicted elements of the trans movement<\/span><\/a> <span>last year and endured months, and months, of cancellation attempts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith saw the cultural winds shifting earlier than many, one reason she started her \u201cUnsafe Space\u201d podcast in October 2018. The show serves as a cultural relief valve for both her and her listeners. She\u2019s also keen on deprogramming those in the social justice religion, a task far easier said than done.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI have to maintain empathy for people who believe all the things I used to believe,\u201d she says. \u201cThose people who believe in it sincerely can be reached, but not if you treat them in a way you wouldn\u2019t want to be treated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Not every exchange ends like Smith would like, though.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She recalls a network executive admonishing her on social media with all the standard names \u2013 white supremacist, Nazi, etc. He had just attended a woke orientation session at a major media company and evidently left with an increased sense of moral righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She told him she left her woke groupthink because it tells people to treat each other differently based on their race and sexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The executive swiftly agreed, to Smith\u2019s horror.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Social justice philosophy takes well-intentioned people and \u201cturns them into mouthpieces for racism and sexism. How clever is that?\u201d she asks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Smith remains hopeful that the younger generation, Gen Z, will start rejecting social justice dictums. She thinks it\u2019s happening already.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYoung people especially crave authenticity \u2026 they crave what they\u2019re told they can\u2019t have,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re rejecting this woke belief system. That makes sense. Kids rebel, especially against an orthodoxy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>She\u2019s also heartened by The Daily Wire hiring Gina Carano, fired for allegedly hurtful social media messages, to make an independent action film for the site\u2019s new movie platform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cInstead of looking at Disney firing her in a negative light, I\u2019m looking at it in a positive light,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat they tried to do is make an example of her. They\u2019re gonna make a different kind of example for her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI hope more companies like The Daily Wire will move into that space. People are hungry for it. They want to see something authentic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So much of the Cancel Culture wave plays on our collective fears, something Smith says she learned to process in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that I have that I fear losing. I consciously created this life the past few years so that would be the case,\u201d says Smith, who works gig jobs between recording \u201cUnsafe Space\u201d episodes. \u201cGo ahead, [cancel me]. I don\u2019t care. I\u2019ll get another gig job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>member<\/em><\/span><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keri Smith isn\u2019t proud of her role in bringing social justice comedy to the masses. Smith helped secured a slot on FX for 2012\u2019s \u201cTotally Biased with W. Kamau Bell,\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274159,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-282085.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Woke Comedy Manager Leaves Entertainment Industry To Start \u2018Unsafe Space\u2019 Podcast After \u2018Seeing The Light\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-282085.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Woke Comedy Manager Leaves Entertainment Industry To Start \u2018Unsafe Space\u2019 Podcast After \u2018Seeing The Light\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}